Pitching to radio....

[jrm27]

I was talkign with another gentleman the other day about the current state of the industry and we began talkign about roles that lables used to play, and how they can be circumvented. One thing that came up was the importance of radio play. He had mentioned that whereas in the past, the labels were a huge factor in getting your songs on the radio, now it is possible to hire your own representatives to pitch to radio. Sounded like an interesting idea. Anyone every done something like that?

[Poker99]

Conclusion : You have to pay to play, with labels or not.

 

Its all about money.

[jrm27]

Pay to play = hiring someone to pitch in this case? Or ar you saying something else?

[Deeprig9]

Do you really have to pay people to get your song played on the radio? What if you write and record a totally awesome song? Maybe a radio station would pay you to be the first station to play it? Maybe the station would take pride in being the cutting edge station that brings you new stuff?

[jrm27]

sure. maybe! That'd be great. Just spitballing here. Know of any cutting edge stations looking for new material?

[Deeprig9]

90.1 in Athens. 88.5 in Atlanta.

 

Both college stations, but they have a very large audience.

 

The old 99x used to be employee owned and took pride in new non-corp stuff. But after about 10 years, they also got bought out by big media and does the rotation thing again.

 

The stations are out there.

[MartinC]

I got a record played on a pretty big college station, but they only played it three -four times. It didn't cost any money, but it also didn't do much in the way of moving the band forward. To get significant plays, I think you have to willing to pay a promoter, or have a label that does.

[Deeprig9]

That's one way. But if each of the three or 4 times your song was played, if they get 1 or 2 phone calls wanting to hear it again, or know the name of the song, they'll keep playing it.

[sabriel9v]

Conclusion : You have to pay to play, with labels or not. Its all about money.

 

+24987

[daddymack]

 

Do you really have to pay people to get your song played on the radio? What if you write and record a totally awesome song? Maybe a radio station would pay you to be the first station to play it? Maybe the station would take pride in being the cutting edge station that brings you new stuff?

 

I seriously doubt there is a commercial station left in the USA that is truly 'cutting edge'...college stations would be your best shot, or you could try the internet radio thing, although I hear that is not really working out well as yet.

If you want airplay, you need to make yourself known in the region, which means playing a lot of high profile shows, and selling a lot of CDs. Then you would want some positive reviews of the CD to use as a 'calling card'.

Most radio station music directors have their eyes on going into the 'bigs', (and their heads up their respective @$$e$) meaning they need a proven track record of keeping the station's listenership constant or growing, which is why most are not going to put a non-label-supported regional song on the air.

[Alan Roberts]

Do you really have to pay people to get your song played on the radio? What if you write and record a totally awesome song? Maybe a radio station would pay you to be the first station to play it? Maybe the station would take pride in being the cutting edge station that brings you new stuff?

:)Why would a radio station pay for material to play when there's so much already available for free? If we're to believe that the best material out there now is being done by unknown, underground artists who are practically working for free and giving away their recordings - why would radio expect to have to pay for it, or even have permission to use it for that matter?

[BlueStrat]

What many musicians don't seem to realize is that commercial radio isn't about promoting music, new or otherwise. It's about selling advertising to create and maintain a revenue stream. While we may like to think that they are promoting music, they aren't. The music exists to keep people listening to the ads.

 

This is why so many markets feature worn out and safe stuff. Where i live, there are three classic rock stations, a "heavy rock" station (that plays the same commercial Ozzy/ NIN/ Puddle o' Mudd type stuff in 40 song rotations), and 'alt rock' station that still plays Alanis Morisette and Alice in Chains, and about 4 country stations.

 

Why? Because the market is mostly 25-50 year old suburban, small town and rural white people. They don't listen to rap, hop hop, modern R&B, jazz, or anything really new. No listeners, no ad revenue.

 

The chances of getting your song in regular rotation nationwide is next to zero, because unless you're writing really catchy tunes (which means highly commercial) you won't be part of the revenue stream.

 

Furthermore, the labels still have an enormous amount of say in who gets on the radio, as much as we'd like to think otherwise.

[BlueStrat]

:)Why would a radio station pay for material to play when there's so much already available for free? If we're to believe that the best material out there now is being done by unknown, underground artists who are practically working for free and giving away their recordings - why would radio expect to have to pay for it, or even have permission to use it for that matter?

 

I think he's talking about paying the radio stations, not the other way around.

It's called payola and it's illegal, but it has merely found a different way to occur, mostly by 'arm's length' transactions like promotion agencies representing artists or record labels providing 'gifts' and 'promotional consideration' to certain PDs and even corporate directors at certain stations in exchange for airplay.

 

And FWIW, if a song is in regular rotation, stations do indeed keep station logs and have to pay royalties to the owners of the songs.

[MartinC]

 

That's one way. But if each of the three or 4 times your song was played, if they get 1 or 2 phone calls wanting to hear it again, or know the name of the song, they'll keep playing it.

 

 

No, actually not. they got those calls, but they also got ten other cd's in the mail every day. It takes more. Like a lot more. Of course, that was just that one station, but based on that, I didn't have the time or energy to repeat that effort.

[soundwave106]

If you want airplay, you need to make yourself known in the region, which means playing a lot of high profile shows, and selling a lot of CDs. Then you would want some positive reviews of the CD to use as a 'calling card'.

 

Top regional guys don't even get on commercial radio these days (this actually is something that I feel contributed as much to the decline of the music industry as anything else). You pretty much have to get signed by a label; then you have to make sure that your music is accessible enough to be pigeonholed in one of the standard radio formats. Having a lot of high profile shows and good regional draw is a good ticket to a label, though.

 

Personally, I'm half inclined to say not to bother with radio these days. If you get on there, sure that's good, because you are a top tier artist then. Elsewise, I wouldn't care too much except for the college/community radio scene (which won't advance your band too much, but it's nice to have friends with the hip crowds over there). Anyways a lot of people under 30 don't even listen to radio anymore, they trade MP3s and whatnot. I would concentrate on building band buzz via other ways.

[gtrbass]

I would agree with Soundwave that Radio should not be a priority for an artist unless they have significant capital to see an actual return on investment.

 

Anyone who knows how to talk to people well can probbaly get 3-4 spins once or twice on the local station. That is not the same thing as a playlist add.

 

When it comes to playlist adds, what the individual artist does not have what a label or independent promoter has, which is leverage. If I'm a label and I have a relationship w/ the PD, he is going to show me some courtesy. If I'm an independent promoter, the same thing is true to a different degree.

 

This is pure business. We are talking about product placement. It has to be a win/win. Quality is not really what matters. How great the song is will be entirely subjective. The greatest song YOU ever heard can be CRAP to the next guy.

 

What matters to the PD is this - Will adding this song fall into maintaining my listenership? That's it. Once a song becomes a hit, it takes on a life of its own.

 

Everyone talks about payola. The notion that the PD is taking bribes or 'hookers & blow' to give an add is not really how it works. The word is CONSIDERATION, and in most cases it is legal. A label will build relationships with a radio station by sponsoring events, sending air staff or management to 'weekend focus group retreats', etc. That's leverage few individual artists have the deep pockets for. This is big business and this is how its done in many industries.

 

So what can an individual artist do? You have some wiggle room. Provide free copies of the CD to the radio station to give away to callers. Give them swag to give away at events. Partner with them for street teaming that benefits both parties. These things aren't free but they could be within reach.

 

Bottom line. This is business. Real business isn't done by throwing a hail mary hoping someone will latch on to it. You have to utilize your resources (time & money) very carefully as they are limited compared to a well funded label.